Subject: Oath of Death Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 11:29:58 +0200 From: "Robert Rouland" To: Here is a T2 deck, 4 color, that is really good. I have played 20 games and lost 2. I've even playtested it against the "Oath of Rogues" deck found here in the Dojo as a July 98 Deck to Beat, and it beats it easily. Here's the deck: 4 Oath of Druids 4 Mirri's Guile 3 Disenchant 4 Vampiric Tutor 3 Necromancy 2 Spirit of the Night 4 Thundermare 4 Volcanic Dragon 2 Shivan Dragon 2 Spike Feeder 3 Firestorm 1 Verdant Touch 2 Living Death 4 Swamps 4 Forests 2 Volrath's Stronghold 3 Karplusan Forest 3 Gemstone Mine 3 City of Brass 3 Undiscovered Paradise First turn Mirri's Guile followed by second turn Oath and if your opponent has any creatures in play, he's toast. This game has so many huge creatures, that it is easy to slap down a Spirit, or a 4/4 or 5/5 monster on the 3rd turn. In the Oath of Rogues deck, there are just too few creatures. You end up activating the Oath, and then turning over 15 cards looking for the one creature - and get a Spike Feeder! You get four life (wow), and your opponent continues the beatdown with his 3-4 creatures in play. Meanwhile, you just lost counterspells and library manipulation spells to the graveyard when you Oathed. With only 3 (3!) fat creatures in a 60 card deck, the chance of you getting one is not so good. Not so with Oath of Death. Oath of Druids: Key card. The epicenter of the deck. Mirri's Guile: Better than Sylvan Library. Why? You get to look at the top 3 cards in the upkeep, instead of the draw phase. Meaning you can Guile BEFORE you Oath, so that you get the card you need on top, instead of having to do it the turn before. Also, Guile is a G casting cost, while Library is a 1G, so you can have a first turn Guile. Disenchant: Bridges and Propaganda, be gone! These 2 cards will shut you down, so crush them quickly. Vampiric Tutor: To locate that missing Oath or to put that one creature you need to finish the job on the top of the library and ready for the Oath. Necromancy: If one of your creatues gets Diabolic Edicted, Terrored, etc., you can bring it right back into play. Also, I did this once against Suicide Black: Cast Firestorm and discarded 2 Thundermares, killing 2 out of 4 creatures. I had no creatures in play, and an Oath on the table. After Firestorm, I cast Tutor and placed a Spirit on the top of the library. At the beginning of my next upkeep, I cast Necromancy as an instant and placed a Thundermare in play, tapping his blocker. Then I Oathed and placed the Spirit into play and attacked with both doing 11 damage and winning the game. Try doing that with an Oath of Rogues deck! Firestorm: If you have too much fat in your hand (and you usually do), it's great to Storm and get it into the graveyard where it can be used with your Necromancy or Living Death. Verdant Touch: Just in case your opponent is playing with creatureless deck. Living Death: Usually a last resort spell, but if you've played the game right, you will get more huge creatures in play than your opponent can shake a stick at. Spirit of the Night: Yep, he's a Legend, and it would be terrible to Oath one into play when you already have one on the table, but it's never happened in over 20 games. He's just too good to not have him in this deck. Thundermare: The ability to have all creatures tapped when it comes into play will usually hurt your opponent more than it will hurt you. He'll probably be desperately trying to block until he can draw that Wrath of God, and now he's gonna take 5 damage and have to deal with a 5/5 flaming horse. Not good. Volcanic Dragon: 4/4 flyer with no summoning sickness. Nuff said. Shivan: The psychological effect alone is worth having this card. Play against somebody who says huh? when you play Oath of Druids and has a couple of Elves in play, and then slap down a Shivan third turn, and watch his face sink in despair. Spike Feeder: Only to get the life and to block, which has come in handy a time or two. Volrath's Stronghold: For all the faults I see in Oath of Rogues, this is the biggest. No Stronghold?? If a fat boy is put into the graveyard (any of the 3!), what do you do then? Win the game with Spike Feeder?! Ever won a game with a 2/2 Spike who's best ability is to sacrafice him for 4 life? Or maybe pray that you get one of the 2 (2!) Gaea's Blessing? Anyway, this is the deck, and it kicks butt. Try it and see what I mean.